Cheaper Than Dirt is one of the largest firearms and accessory retailers in the United States. They sell guns, ammo, gear…you name it, they’ve got it. Which, following President Obama’s re-election last night, means that they’re probably about to see a rather large spike in traffic as people begin stocking up against the perceived threat of an assault weapons ban or ammunition restriction. Do they have a strategy for fulfilling those orders? Are they selectively stocking up on certain products? Are they changing anything at all about what they’re doing? Nope. According to my source inside CTD at least . . .

I asked them what their post-election strategy was. This was his answer:

Same strategy as before the election, have vast amounts of inventory. It will be tougher to get products at good prices for us to sell.

AR lowers are going to be fast sellers everywhere. Full capacity magazines will fly off the shelves.

Ammo sales will be even stronger for the next six months. Ammo prices will go up because of demand, and consumers will blame us for higher prices and lack of product.

I expect a surge in all shooting products, and it will be difficult not to panic buy myself.

Now please excuse me while I order another case of 5.56x45mm NATO ammo….

About Nick Leghorn

Nick Leghorn is a gun nerd living and working in San Antonio, Texas. In his free time, he's a competition shooter (USPSA, 3-gun and NRA High Power), private pilot, and enjoys mixing statistics and science with firearms. Now on sale: Getting Started with Firearms by yours truly!

34 Responses to CheaperThanDirt’s Strategy Following Obama’s Win: Steady As She Goes

I fail to see how O outright saying that he WILL pursue an AWB and further restrictions is a “perceived” threat. If someone walks up to you on the street and says he intends to kill you in couple months, is that only a “perceived” threat?

I’m no Obama fan, but honestly, hasn’t anybody seen an election before?

Candidates will say just about anything to get elected. Reagan promised all sorts of things to get elected, then not only didn’t do them, he did the opposite.
Exactly like he did as governor of CA. “Integrity” is just a 9-letter crossword answer for “something politicians don’t have”.

Do I trust Obo not to ban everything he can? Nope. Did anyone reasonably think for a second he was going to suddenly sell a pro-gun message? Nope. Did either of the two bad choices ever say anything truly pro-gun in their political careers? Nope, not really.

Even if it suddenly makes it to the top of the “to do” list, will Obo actually go for and (more importantly) get passed some new AWB? No more, or less likely than had we gotten old Willard up in da hizzy.

I had an intuitive feeling Obama would win. Good point about needing to pass the GOP controlled House. I don’t have too much concern (yes some since anything is possible) of a full-blown DiFi extremist bill passing the House. DiFi would like to ban grandfathering and to confiscate yet that would probably incur some deadly unintended consequences I think most people on both sides want to avoid. Absolutely nothing might occur or a watered down version as part of some political compromise that includes other non-gun issues being contested in the legislature. Currently, I’m more concerned about the long-term appointments of more anti-gun judges to the SC and lower courts.

Yup. That’s exactly how bullshit bills usually get passed. Attach them to something undefeatable, preferably at the last minute, preferably in the dark of night with a little legislative chicanery, a la the Hughes Amendment to FOPA.

Thus — Look all Republicans want to kill old ladies……kill old ladies….kill old ladies. The sheep see this and instead of using their gray matter they say, OMG, Republicans are evil they want to kill old ladies

The press, knowing it is not true, add to the fury “This just in, Republicans wish all old women dead”

And thus is goes….and why the next 4yrs will be hell because nobody can play nice

Except that FOPA was a standalone bill and had Reagan any compunction to give a good flyin’ about gun rights, he would have vetoed it when Hughes got jammed in.

He didn’t.

I know y’all would like to spin St. Ronnie as some positive force, but he was the beginning of the end from massive deficit spending and doubling the national debt, to government growth at Obo’s rate, to negative trade balances with China.

I like the ‘Now Hiring’ notice in the lower right hand corner of the page. Business is good.

Obviously there will be ‘some’ additional buying. There wasn’t a mad rush to buy the last eight weeks as there was in 2008 prior to that election day. I have no idea what will happen moving forward yet I think the heaviest buying will be in the tactical areas.

Myself, I plan on buying a combo pump shotgun with two barrels; one 18″ for defense and one 26″ for hunting. I am going to be buying more ammo, holsters, red-dot sight, spare mags for my .22 LR Buckmark, possibly re-loading equipment and supplies, etc. Besides gun related buys, there is more to consider such as first aid supplies, food, bug out bag, bear spray (works on human attackers too), fishing and trapping gear, etc.

I’ve never actually purchased anything from CTD. Shopped there, sure. But once you add in the shipping and their “handling fee,” I’ve never -not- managed to find it cheaper somewhere else, even on their sale items.

It’s gotten easier to get to a good final cost now that they clearly label availability by warehouse. With the handling fee, though, you generally have to spend at least $100-150 to come out ahead… which I’m sure is exactly the intended result.

Note that I didn’t say it was necessarily easy (or possible) to find everything you need in a single CTD warehouse. Right now I’ve got stuff from two different warehouses parked in my cart while I check daily to see if I can now magically get it all from a single location.

It’s not any easier shopping at the other sites, either. Pretty much any one I pick has some of what I need, but not all.

I think eventually all guns will be confiscated. I say 3 years max. I’m contemplating selling all but my daily carry pc. so I don’t loose the total 4-5 thousand I have in them. Can I sell my ammo as a private subject of the state? I feel like I’m just waiting for my government issue shackles. November 6, 2012 will be my Black Tuesday till my last breath. Please don’t waste my time with racial accusations about my feelings about yesterday.

Yes. You should absolutely sell them immediately, as they’ve been massively devalued already by the outcome of the election. I’m feeling generous today, so I’ll take them off your hands sight-unseen for 10% of original MSRP. I’ll even cover the FFL and shipping fees.

I’m not seeing anything today that I didn’t see coming 4 – 5 years ago and coming even clearer into view since. What I didn’t foresee was that canoeing accident last week. The fish are feeding on my firearms.

They would just do it the way all the cool kids do it these days … executive order. How about the ATF, under direction from above, “determining” that semi-automatic firearms really should qualify as “destructive devices” … after all, they *gasp!* might decide that semi-auto functionallity has “no sporting purpose”. ATF has a w..i..d..e bit of lattitude in drafting law, er … “regulations” … without input from Congress beyond the original creation of the agency in the first place. They further have the w..i..d..e lattitude of “interpreting” their lovingly-handcrafted-to-be-vague laws, er … “regulations”. On top of that consider that manufacturers and commercial sellers of firearms live and die by their FFL, which could be yanked johnny-on-the-spot. If you have a problem with the way your livlihood has been yanked out from under you, take it to court. You might get your case heard in a year or so. Heck, there’s even a tiny chance you’ll win! Congress? We don’t need no stinkin’ Congress!